Author note: Hello everyone, here's my next chapter, hope you all enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not now, nor will I ever own the incredible story, plot, quotes, potions etc used or mentioned here, I do however extend some ownership over my own characters and ideas.
Chapter eleven
Ivy
I spent the remainder of the Christmas Holidays at the Burrow, worrying constantly about my family even though I knew that they would be safe with Carcia and Marcus and imagining inventive and painful ways to extract my revenge on one Draco Malfoy. The anger I felt for him hadn't mellowed in the slightest over the past week, if anything it had intensified, I felt a deep hatred for the blond haired Death Eater and if I never saw him again it would be too soon for me. I knew that I wouldn't be able to avoid him at Hogwarts though, the traitorous boy was in several of my lessons which could either be a good or bad thing, good for the whole revenge thing as it would give me more chances to get to him and bad since I never wanted to see him again. He had been prepared to hand me over to the Death Eaters, leaving me at their mercy, a guilty conscious or some small sense of fair play had convinced him to let me go (that or because I had had my vision and knew his plans he had no choice but to help me). But that did nothing to take away from the fact that for a twenty-four hour period he had lied to my face and had been willing to betray me. It was his fault that my family and I had to leave our home, it was his fault that they were in hiding right now, taken away from everyone and everything they had ever known just to keep them safe, he was the reason why I was constantly worried about the Death Eaters finding me again and the reason why I would be forever looking over my shoulder. I would only be safe at Hogwarts until Voldermort was stopped, if he was ever stopped, because they would always be looking for me. So, excuse me if the thought of seeing the creep who had caused this again didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Harry and Ron had picked up on my foul mood; it was kind of hard for even someone as dense as those two could be to miss it when I was forever stalking around the house and the garden huffing and scowling, though they didn't fully understand the extent of it. Just like with the Order members, I hadn't even told Ron and Harry about Draco's visit. For the life of me I couldn't tell you why, I should have grassed on the little rat the first chance I got, telling the world exactly what he was and what he was capable of, I didn't thought, through a sense of misplaced loyalty (or something like that) I told no one about Draco. Stupid of me I know, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
Consequently Harry and Ron believed my anger was purely do to the fact that someone on our side was selling our secrets to the Death Eaters and that because of that my parents and my lives were in danger and they had had to go into hiding, which was a very fair reason to be pissed off, but sadly that wasn't it. I tried not to sulk so much, at least not half as much as I wanted to, the first day after the Weasleys and the Order had told me about the strict new rules in place to keep me safe, which basically involved me staying inside, which is to say no trips to Diagon Alley, no Hogsmeade and no leaving the Burrow until I went back to school. Furious and still reeling from the pervious day I had ran right out of the Burrow and into the nearby woods, not caring that I was braking the new rules only hating all of this and how not only could I never go back home, I was trapped inside as well, I had fled to a near by woods and taken my anger out on the trees there, firing curses out left right and centre. Ron and Harry had found me and talked me down, which I appreciated since they weren't used to me acting like this, I usually had good control over my emotions but under the circumstances they understood.
Since then I had made an effort to tone down my rage and my sulking, aside from the occasional huff, simply because it wasn't fair on everyone else. The Weasleys had taken me in, letting me stay with them when I had no where else to go, it seemed to me that charging around the house like a whiney thirteen year old was a poor way to repay them, this wasn't their fault after all. So I bottled it all up, for the most part, keeping it hidden until it was the right time to let it all go with the right person present, only then, I had decided, would I allow myself to explode.
So, lined up in front of the Weasleys fireplace a few days after New Year's Eve, I had my emotions kept in check. We were travelling back to Hogwarts via a one off connection to the Floo Network and everything else aside I was quite looking forward to seeing Hermione again, it would be nice to have her to talk some of this over with, and being back at Hogwarts. Standing behind Harry I watched as an emotional Mrs. Weasley bid farewell to her two youngest children for another term, she was still very upset about everything that had happened with Percy on Christmas Day (his visit being only a Ministry ploy to get to Harry) and the parting was harder for her than usual.
"Promise me you'll look after yourself…stay out of trouble…" he told Harry as she pulled him into a hug, still sobbing and causing my heart to ache, I should have been saying goodbye to my own parents right now, not wondering how they were coping in hiding.
"I always do, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said in an attempt to lighten the mood "I like a quiet life, you know me." Mrs. Weasley looked at him, gave a watery chuckle and then turned to me, looking like she might cry again before opening her arms for me; I stepped into her embrace easily.
"You as well, you're getting almost as bad as Harry for attracting danger now, Ivy," she told me as she hugged me tightly before adding in a quieter but sharper voice "don't worry, Ivy dear, they'll be fine, you just keep yourself safe, promise me."
"I will, Mrs. Weasley," I said nodding, Mrs. Weasley returned the motion before letting go of me and saying,
"So, you're staying with us during the summer, dear, is that okay?"
I nodded, not really trusting my voice right now and fighting back tears of my own, Mrs. Weasley was such a lovely person and she cared about both me and Harry deeply, along with Hermione of course, even though we weren't hers. I appreciated everything she did for me so much, but I wanted my own parents. For a brief moment I wondered if this was just a taste of how empty Harry felt all of the time, suddenly I had greater empathy for the pain my friend must always feel, though I could never fully understand how he felt since both my parents were still alive.
"Be good then all of you…" Mrs. Weasley said tearfully.
Stepping last into the emerald flames I called out "Hogwarts" in the strongest voice I could manage and with one last look at the place I would be calling home for an unspecified length of time, the flames engulfed me and spinning very fast I shot off towards Hogwarts. Slowing down as the journey neared its end I blinked before coming to a stop in the fireplace in Professor McGonagall's office. Stepping out over the grate I went to stand beside Ron, Harry and Ginny, trying not to get ash all over McGonagall's red and gold rug. With a greeting to us all McGonagall dismissed us all from her office and the four of us trekked across the castle towards the Gryffindor castle, chatting amiably as we went, I joined in extending a lot of effort to do so, but my heart really wasn't in the conversation. The sun was setting outside the windows, painting the horizon a deep reddish pink as it sank, just as we reached the portrait hole.
I listened as Ron had an argument with a rather hung over Fat Lady about the password, which she told him had changed over the holidays and none of us knew what it was now. The problem was somewhat resolved however when very pink faced Hermione rushed down the corridor, greeting each of us warmly, baring Ron of course, and giving us the right password. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, a sullen looking Ron and I all stepped into the Gryffindor common room, while I let the relief that I still had at least once constant place of residence right now sink in, Hermione pulled a roll of parchment from her pocket and handed it to Harry, who brightened upon seeing it.
"Great," he said as he unrolled it and read the message, I spotted Harry's name written in a formal and familiar script on the back and knew that it was from Dumbledore "I've got loads to tell him-and you. Lets sit down-" Harry suggested but was suddenly cut off by a high pitched screech of,
"Won, Won," from Lavender, who seemingly materialising from nowhere threw herself into Ron's arms, startling him massively and causing several on lookers, including Hermione, to snicker. I cringed for Ron's sake, feeling a little sorry for him, I could tell he hated it when Lavender over did it with the public displays of affection and to be honest her voice went right through me when she screeched like that.
"There's a table over there…coming Ginny, Ivy?" Hermione asked, pointing to the desk in question.
"No, thanks, I said I'd meet Dean," Ginny said though she didn't seem all that pleased by that fact, apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed this if Harry's hopeful expression was anything to go by. I couldn't suppress the smile that forced its way to my lips then, even in my foul mood I could still appreciate how cute this was, clearly Harry liked Ginny more than he was letting on and I found that sweet.
I thought about it for a moment, wondering if it would be wise to go with them or if I should just sneak off to the dormitories right now since I didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now. That's what made my decision for me, I had spent too long this past week avoiding conversation and people all together, it was time that I got over it and stopped being so unsocial, someone would notice something was up and that was something I definitely didn't want bringing up.
"I've got no where else to go," I said a little teasingly and managing a smile at three of my friends "so I suppose I'll come and sit with you two."
Saying bye to Ginny I followed Harry and Hermione over to the spare table where after pleading with Hermione to make up with Ron, to which I added my wish for this to happen, to no avail Harry proceeded to tell Hermione about the conversation he had overheard Snape and Malfoy having last term, the same story he had told me Christmas day when I visited the two lads at the Burrow. As predicted the conversation hit me like a punch to the stomach, knocking the wind out of me with the pain it caused even though I was expecting it and braced for it. Anger rolled off of me in new waves, as I thought of what had happened on Boxing Day. But still despite all of that, despite my new found hate for Malfoy and my desire to get back at him, somehow I managed not to say anything as Harry expressed his concerns that Snape was helping Malfoy with his Death Eater task. I watched as Hermione's face became doubtful and I remained silent, not mentioning just how close to the mark Harry really was. Malfoy was a Death Eater, only Snape couldn't be helping him with his task because not only had Draco told me himself that Snape wasn't a Death Eater, but also the said task was finished now and so Draco had nothing for Snape (or anyone else) to help him with.
"Don't you think-" Hermione started after a thoughtful pause at the end of Harry's explanation, Harry cut across her though, anticipating her response.
"-he was pretending to offer help so that he could trick Malfoy into telling him what he was doing?"
"Well, yes," Hermione said with a shrug.
"Ron's dad and Lupin think so," Harry admitted "but this definitely proves that Malfoy's planning something, you can't deny that." Harry said tentatively, shooting me a wary look since he knew full well that on Christmas day when he told me about this, I had denied it. I felt my cheeks colour in humiliation, thinking that had been some poor judgement on my part. I had told Harry that it didn't really prove anything, that just because he overheard what he did it didn't prove his allegations in any way shape or form; I said that there were a million possibilities for what they might have been talking about. Yeah, alright.
"No, I can't." Hermione answered slowly and Harry looked a little relived.
"Good, I thought you might side with Ivy." He said and I shot him a look, wishing he hadn't dragged me into the conversation; I was beginning to wish that I had fled when I had the chance.
"You don't think that Malfoy's planning something, Ivy?" she asked me, looking interested and causing me to shift under her uncomfortable gaze.
I don't think that he is anymore, I thought miserably, he was planning something though, and unfortunately it had involved me.
"That's not what I said," I hedged still not comfortable with this topic "I only said that Harry doesn't know exactly what they were talking about, it could have been anything." I said shrugging like it was no big deal.
"I don't know, Ivy, whatever Malfoy is up to, it doesn't sound too good." Hermione said, taking me aback a little with how she was agreeing with Harry.
"Maybe not, but how do we know it even matters anymore, it might have been done already for all we know?" I asked, wanting to get away from this topic as it quickly burnt out my fuse.
"Why, have you heard something?" Harry asked, his voice sounding very, very interested and causing me to panic, I was backing myself into a corner now and I had to hurry and manoeuvre myself out.
"No," I said simply in a calm voice "just speculating."
Neither Harry nor Hermione looked convinced, shifting on my chair uncomfortably I tucked my hair behind my ear looked up at them both, since I had been avoiding their gaze until then "look, I don't feel too well, I'm going to head up to the dormitories." I said clearly running away from this topic and clearly having something to hide, fortunately though both Harry and Hermione let it drop for now and didn't ask me to explain, they mercifully let me leave.
Weaving in and out of the crowds of Gryfindors in the common room I soon made it to the staircase and half jogged half ran up them, coming to a stop outside the girl's dormitories I hesitated before pushing the door open and sighing in relief when I found it empty.
"Thank God," I breathed as I crossed the room towards my four poster at the foot of which was my trunk.
Opening the fastenings of the trunk I eased it open and looked at all that remained of my possessions, the remainder of which was still at Royston Drive either gathering dust or burnt to a cinder by angry Death Eaters. Routing through my stuff I pulled out my pyjamas, freshly washed by Mrs. Weasley, and dumped them on my bed. Just as I moved to get up something caught my eye amongst the organised mess of my trunk, the corner of one of my photo frames was sticking out from under a pile of T-shirts. Gently I extracted it, smiling sadly when I looked at the photo it held, it was the one of my family that I usually kept on my desk at home, the first one I took with my magical camera. I carefully set the picture down on my nightstand before sitting on my bed and staring at it, watching my family as they blinked unsurely at the camera, confused by new magic. I sat there for a few moments, just watching the photo and hoping that they were adjusting okay, but then I realised that the other girls would be up here soon getting ready for bed and since I didn't want to have to explain my depressed expression I hastily dressed in my bedclothes, brushed my hair and climbed between the warm sheets.
I lay there for a short while, thinking, mellowing a little I think as I reached several pretty important conclusions that defined who I was going to be from now on. It was as I was deciding on these thoughts that the rest of the dorm came upstairs to get ready for bed, pretending to be asleep so as to avoid a conversation right now (I'd be back to my normal self tomorrow, I had promised myself as much) I listened as they speculated about my well-being and then about if a boy was involved in my obvious misery. That was until Hermione silenced them by saying that it was my own business and hadn't they got anything better to do than gossip about me? The dorm fell silent then and when the other girls had all climbed into be and the last lamp was extinguished I opened my eyes again, staying awake for another hour or so before, not for the first time this week, crying myself to sleep.
Hermione and I were the last ones in the dormitory the next morning, I was running late and Hermione was waiting for me, not wanting to go and find Harry since it was obvious he would be with Ron, also I think she wanted to ask me if I was okay. Last night, before falling asleep I had come to several very important conclusions; firstly, I wasn't going to act like this any more, I wasn't going to wander around like I was just so hard done by it wasn't right and it wasn't me, there were people out there that had suffered far worse than me, at least my family were all still alive. So no more moping around, no matter how hard I tried to hide it, no more misery, no more depression, I would be me again. Secondly, there was no way that I was going to get revenge on Malfoy, there was no way to do it without starting some sort of out right war between us and I didn't need that right now, the only sure way to end this and to get revenge on Malfoy would be to tell the world his secret, to tell them that he was a Death Eater, but I was apparently incapable of doing that so it was out of the question. I just needed to carry on with my life, the way to deal with this was to pretend that Malfoy didn't exist, to ignore him should he (though I doubted he would) try to talk to me, and to erase him from my mind completely. It would be less messy and better for me in the long run.
Also that was another thing; thirdly I had resolved to never tell anyone about Malfoy's visit to my house and what had resulted from that, no matter how tempting it was to get his betrayal out there and to talk about it with my friends I knew that I just couldn't. I hadn't even been able to tell Dumbledore about it when he had come to the Burrow the day after the incident to talk to me, I had had to lie to him just like everyone else and I had felt terrible about it. But it was for the best. And with all of that in mind, I should be able to move on with my life and get over all of this. I just had one more person to lie to first.
"Ivy," Hermione said as I hastily ran a brush through my hair, late due to having overslept, probably a by product of how long it took me to get to sleep last night.
"Um," I said as I bent down to slip on my school shoes.
"Are you okay?" she asked me a little tentatively, as though I was a ticking time bomb.
At her question I looked up innocently and smiled, it was almost effortless proving to me that my frame of mind made all the difference to my mood; I was determined not to sink back into the hole of this past week.
"Erm," I said as though I was surprised that she was asking such a question and still smiling innocently "yeah, I'm okay, now anyway." I said deciding to be part way honest and invite to conversation rather than having it dragged from me.
"What do you mean, now anyway?" Hermione asked from where she perched on the end of her bed, her bag over her shoulder and a pile of large books in her arms.
I sighed, only this wasn't forced in any way, shape or form, I really didn't want to have to lie about this again but I knew I had to. I had decided it was best for no one to know the truth, not even my closest friends, not even Dumbledore, to tell Hermione the truth would be wrong, as would to keep the whole issue of my parents from her a secret.
"Do you mind being even more late to breakfast?" I asked her and she shook her head, saying that she didn't.
"My parents have had to be sent into hiding and I'm not allowed to return home," I admitted, Hermione gasped and her eyes widened.
"What…why?" she asked getting that look she got whenever she was learning new information, a deep interest but also in this case sympathy at my pain.
"The Death Eaters have found out about my…ability," I said not really wanting to say it out loud just in case we were overheard "they came looking for me on Boxing Day, but I had a vision of them coming so I sent my patronus to the Order and started packing my stuff. The Order got there in time, whipped the towns memory of both me and my family and arraigned for someone from the Order to take my parents somewhere safe since they cant stay in Barnsley any more, not now the Death Eaters know where I live. They have been taken away from everything they have ever known and I don't know where they are or how they are." I said trying to not get emotional but failing, as to be expected from me.
"How did they find out?" Hermione asked "I thought only the Order, us and Dumbledore knew about your powers…does that mean we have a spy?"
"That's what everyone seems to think," I said looking down, unable to believe that any one in the Order would betray me like that but surely someone must be for this to be happening, and also hating myself for not telling Hermione the truth.
"So this is why you were so distant and upset yesterday, I asked Harry but he wouldn't tell me anything," Hermione said and I silently thanked Harry for letting me tell Hermione myself, even though I didn't necessarily want to it was for the best "where are you going to stay?"
"The Burrow," I said getting up and hunting for my school bag, carefully remembering not to say Ron's house, since it was kind of an unwritten rule not to talk about Ron around Hermione right now "Mrs. Weasley is letting me stay there until I leave school, she says I can stay longer if I want but I don't want to put them out." I said as I slung my bag of books over my shoulder and crossed the room.
"I'm sorry, Ivy," Hermione said as she stood up "this is simply awful, now that they know you're secret and they want you for their own means they'll never stop searching for you." I nodded uncomfortably and Hermione seemed to pick up on the fact that I didn't need reminding just how bad things were and didn't say anything else about it.
"Shall we go see if there's anything left to eat?" I asked her with a smile, which she returned with a nod.
Together we left the girls dormitories and found the common room, just as expected, completely empty; everyone was already down at breakfast. As we jogged out the portrait hole I suggested that we run down to the Great Hall but Hermione, the prefect, insisted that we stick to the rule of no running in the corridors. Hermione and I entered the Great Hall and found that breakfast was mercifully still in progress; I was starving from a loss of appetite over the past week and was more than ready to tuck in to some good Hogwarts food. Deliberately looking in the direction of just the Gryffindor table, so as to avoid unwanted sights, I spotted Harry and Ron sat about halfway down the long wooden table, Harry waved me over but Ron was too bust talking to Seamus to look our way, which was good for Hermione. However she still huffed and said something about wanting to talk to Neville, who was sitting a good way away from Ron, and how I should go say hi to Harry and she'd see me in Charms. bidding goodbye to Hermione just for now I crossed the room towards the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Harry, hungrily talking a piece of buttered toast from the almost empty plate in the middle.
"Where's Hermione going?" Harry asked as I chewed my toast.
"She wanted to talk to Neville," I replied shooting Harry a meaningful look at which he nodded.
"Did you tell her then?" he asked and I nodded reaching forward to take another slice of toast.
"Yeah, I did, thanks for not telling her by the way, it was better to explain the mess myself." I said smiling at him, which seemed to take Harry aback a little since my mood was quite different than it had been this past week but he didn't complain, I think he appreciated having a friend who wasn't arguing with another one of his friends and wasn't miserable anymore.
"Any time," he said with a smile at which point Ron noticed my presence and turned to face me.
"Hi, Ivy," he greeted in a sour tone.
"What?" I asked looking at his hopeless expression.
"Oh, we've got another apparation lesson this week," he said slumping a little and causing me to pull a confused face.
"What?" I asked not getting why he was so bothered "you were all excited for it before Christmas."
"Yeah, that was before he found out that he couldn't do it," Seamus said and every male Gryffindor within reaching distance laughed along with Seamus, including Harry who nudged his friend playfully.
"Shut it, Seamus," Ron hissed before turning to me and saying "I just don't get it, destination, deliberation, divination or whatever…I'm hopeless."
A giggle burst from my lips but it was short lived as I saw that Ron really was beating himself up about this "Divination is a subject Ron, the one you, Harry and I all failed," I said causing Harry and Ron to laugh a little at the private joke, about how a Seer such as me could fail Divination, in my defence I couldn't get anything from crystal balls or tea leaves, and I had been counting on having a vision during the exam, which never happened "besides I don't think it matters right now, no one," I said looking purposefully at the surrounding lads "can really apparate yet, we haven't learnt enough."
Looking a little brighter Ron nodded, seeing the truth of my words and liking how the other lads had sunk a little lower in their chairs because of what I had just said. Following Harry and Ron to our first lesson, Charms, we chatted amiably until we reached the classroom door where I said goodbye to them and went to sit with Hermione, since she was alone and I always sat with her in lessons. Today we were trying to produce a fountain of pure water, which Hermione had grasped almost instantly, with me it had taken a little while longer and some coaching from Hermione but I had managed to complete the task in a good time. The day carried on in a similar fashion to this morning, Harry and I alternated between spending time with Hermione and spending time with Ron, sometimes separately and sometimes together, mostly it depended on the lesson and if we were in the same lesson as Hermione or if Lavender was in that lesson with us. By the time we made it to our last lesson of the day, Potions, I had remembered (as if I had ever forgotten) just why I hated it so much when we fought.
Potions was awkward, Hermione and I couldn't move from the table we had sat at on the very first day of this year, the same one as Harry, Ron and Ernie, though Ernie wasn't a problem and really nor was Harry. Ron and Hermione blatantly ignored each other, frowning from the second they entered the room and sat down and absolutely refusing to look at one and other. Harry and I exchanged uncomfortable glances and tried to make awkward conversation with everyone, Ernie, sensing the atmosphere tried to help us but it was all too forced and we soon stopped trying, settling into an odd silence as we waited for Slughorn to arrive. Trying to distract myself I closed my eyes trying to guess at the potions in the room from their smell, today there was only one remaining and it smelt unlike any other potion I had ever smelt before, and yet I knew I had smelt it before. I could make out three distinct smells within it, one was coffee, its sharp sent hitting my nose and making me instantly more aware, I loved the smell of coffee but despised the taste but since I wasn't drinking it I found its presence soothing and enjoyable. The second scent I identified in the potion was parchment, like the kind found it books, only for me it didn't remind me of my big heavy school books but rather the novels tucked away in my trunk in the tower, it was a homely smell and I appreciated it presence. By this point I was smiling like a lunatic, the smells were filling me up with a kind of euphoria that I hadn't felt in a while, especially the last smell, the one that I couldn't quite place. It smelt…clean, clean and sharp, no nonsense like an expensive aftershave or something like that, only I couldn't name it despite how familiar I knew it was to me. Frowning a little in confusion I decided that this wasn't my dad's aftershave, nor any male member of my family, it didn't smell like Harry or Ron either, but that was definitely closer to the scent.
My eyes snapped open when I placed the potion, Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. I recognised the scents from my first potions lesson of the year, at least two of them anyway, my third scent had been melted chocolate this autumn, but it had changed now, changed into something frightening. Just as I opened my eyes my breath caught in my throat and I felt as though someone had punched me in the stomach, for walking into the dungeons at just that exact moment was none other than Draco Malfoy. The blond haired Death Eater wore a hard, yet slightly troubled expression on his face; his cool blue eyes were hard as sapphires as he stared straight ahead into the room, his head held high and his stance dominating. Despite that however, there were dark circles underneath his eyes. Not wanting him to try and meet my gaze I averted my eyes quickly as two very different things stirred inside me at the slight of him, one was murderous rage and the second…well, it inspired more murderous rage. My eyes found the offending potion in a corner of the room, its steam rising in characteristic swirls and I was sure if I was close enough I would be able to see its mother of pearl sheen. Thanks for that, I scowled at the potion well aware of how crazy I must be to be talking to a potion inside me head, just what I needed right now, my head filling with lovey dovey thoughts when I'm in the same room as HIM.
Getting rid of my troubled expression just as Slughorn bounded into the room I was glad that I had somewhere to look as he explained the potion we would be making today, which apparently would be the Ageing Potion. Once Slughorn was finished with his excited introduction he told us to get going with it, obediently I got to work on my potion, knowing that despite how much I understood the subject my potion would never be as good as Harry's (or rather the Prince's) or Hermione's. Potions was not my best subject, Charms (despite the issue today) and Transfiguration were. As I cut, crushed and diced various plants and animal parts to make the potion I felt myself relax again, settling in to ignoring Malfoy, though Ron kept asking why he was looking over here, causing my two male friends to send threatening glares in the Slytherin's direction. But other than that I was fully able to shut out his presence and get on with my own thing, I watched as Harry deviated from the set instructions and made a pretty much perfect potion and Hermione sent irritated looks in both his and Ron's direction. I smiled at that, some things would just never change.
By the end of the lesson I had managed to almost complete a passable potion, at which Slughorn had nodded pleasantly, I grinned at Harry as Slughorn declared his potion to be the most amazing of its kind he had ever seen, putting so much enthusiasm into his words that it was a wonder the man didn't collapse in overexertion. I wasn't jealous of Harry's book and the attention it got him, I was a naturally shy person and tended to try and avoid that stuff unless it was urgent, I preferred to try and fail on my own rather than cheating, Harry had offered to share the book with me but like Ron I had also had difficulty deciphering the handwriting and had ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it. Malfoy's potion, I couldn't help but overhear, was not deserving of such merit, and Slughorn had suggested that perhaps Malfoy had been distracted while making it and had suggested a good nights sleep to get rid of those dark circles, much to everyone else's amusement, his irritation and annoyingly my sympathy.
"Come on," Harry said as Slughorn dismissed us and we all gathered up our things "I want to get something to eat before going to see Dumbledore." Harry added that last part quietly.
"Can't mate," Ron said with a note of actual regret to his voice "I promised Lavender I'd meet her outside her class."
Harry nodded his sympathy and Hermione let out a scoff as she packed away her books, at which Ron shot her a glare.
Keen to stop the argument before it began Harry said "alright, I'll see you in the common room later and tell you what happened." Harry said meaning his meeting with Dumbledore.
"See ya, Ron," I said nicely as my redheaded friend reluctantly left to find his girlfriend, making a mental note to ask Harry about that later, or maybe even Ron himself, I led Harry and a considerably less hostile Hermione around our table and towards the door. Unfortunately for me a certain blond was doing exactly that on the next table over.
The four of us, Harry, Hermione, Malfoy and I all came to a stop as we nearly collided with each other, I cursed internally as my heart rate picked up again but felt better when my hand subconsciously reached for my wand in anger. At least I was experiencing one rational emotion. Surprising us all Malfoy didn't send out a biting remark, he just stood there, his eyes wide for about a millisecond before the shutters went down and the hard expression returned and he became hostile. Up close he looked even more exhausted than he had when he first walked in and suddenly Slughorn's suggestion that he get a good nights sleep didn't seem so unreasonable. Making sure that my expression betrayed none of my softness I stood there, both of us waiting for the other to get out of their way. Was it my imagination or behind that superior, almost disgusted expression did he actually look torn, like he was trying to make a split second choice but didn't know what to do. The few remaining students were watching the mini confrontation, most of them Slytherin's who were jeering at me and my friends, both us and Malfoy ignored them, focusing instead on each other. If it wouldn't have been a show of weakness I would have looked away, I couldn't stand to look at him right now, it made me think about everything, about what he was and what he would have done to me if I hadn't had that vision and read that letter.
"Out of my way, Potter," Malfoy hissed even though I was the one in his way and not Harry.
Harry, angered as always by Malfoy's presence and spurred on my his suspicions stepped closer to me, looking over my shoulder at him as he put a hand on my shoulder I saw that Harry was glaring at Malfoy with intense dislike. Malfoy bristled a little and shifted on his feet, an unreadable expression in his eyes for a split second before it vanished, something had bothered him, something to do with Harry, I had turned back in time just to spot it.
"Make us, Malfoy" Harry said threateningly stressing the word 'us' and I was just about to ask Harry to stop, to tell him Malfoy wasn't worth whatever he was planning to do, still standing in a classroom with an apparently oblivious teacher, however said teacher was apparently not so oblivious as he called,
"Mr. Malfoy, a word if you wouldn't mind."
For a long moment none of us moved, Malfoy continued to glare at Harry, who returned the look in equal measure, I stood there like a lemon doing nothing, shocked by the sudden confrontation and battling the desire to hit Malfoy myself, Hermione was still standing behind us, a telling off most likely on the tip of her tongue. However after what seemed to be an hours worth of minutes crammed into one Malfoy moved, sending one last furious look at Harry and an unreadable one at me, he looked through Hermione completely as though she was beneath his notice, which pissed me off and reluctantly strode towards Slughorn. An air of 'how dare you call me to you' about him that I was sure with a teacher any less of a pushover would have earned him a detention.
"Come on," I urged, trying not to be aware of how at the sound of my voice Malfoy's head snapped in my direction. Keeping my own head down I quelled my own angry feeling and with Hermione's help led Harry from the room.
"Harry, I can't believe you, you were going to start a fight in a CLASSROOM, with a TEACHER watching!" Hermione chastised as soon as the classroom door was closed behind us, for a moment I wondered what Slughorn was going to say to Malfoy and then I decided that I didn't care. It was better I didn't think about that.
"He deserved it," Harry said angrily as he tried to calm down "you saw the way he was looking at Ivy, and how he didn't speak to her, just because she's a Muggleborn, he looked right through you too Hermione."
"Yes but its Malfoy, what did you expect?" Hermione continued, causing me to ask that question of myself, what had I expected from Malfoy when appeared in my house on Christmas Day, him to be anything other than what he was?
"It doesn't matter any more," I said hitching my bag further up my shoulder "I've gone past caring what he thinks of me or people like me, but thanks for sticking up for me Harry, I appreciate it." Harry nodded and grinned.
"Well, yes, I appreciate it too but honestly Harry, you could have gotten in trouble." Hermione continued.
"And that would make today different from any other day, how?" I asked grinning, determined to make a joke of this and not to let HIM get me down again.
Harry laughed and even Hermione let out a reluctant chuckle "lets get down to the Great Hall," Harry suggested "I wasn't kidding when I said that I wanted to get something to eat before going to see Dumbledore, I've got some Charms homework to do before I go as well."
"We all do, Harry," Hermione said as we set off walking through the dungeons, however we came to a sudden stop when Colin Creevey dashed down the last few steps of the staircase that led back up to ground level and came to a stop in front of us, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
"What's wrong, Colin?" Harry asked worriedly as Colin tried to catch his breath but decided that his message was more important than breathing.
"Professor…Dumbledore…"the small boy wheezed routing through his pocket.
"Breathe, Colin," I instructed and with a nod Colin waited until he had fully caught his breath before pulling out a note and handing it to me.
"Professor Dumbledore asked me to give you this, he told me I'd find you down here but I was worried I might miss you." he explained as I took the note from him.
"Oh, okay. Thanks, Colin," I said startled by the letter, I wasn't used to getting them, every now and again Dumbledore asked to see me so that we could talk about my visions and he could get a better understanding of how they worked, though they weren't that different from every other Seer's abilities, but these letters still made me nervous.
As Colin headed back up the stairs I turned the letter over in my hands, my name was written on the front in the familiar grand script and under Harry and Hermione's curious gaze I opened the letter.
Dear Ivy
I hope that you have settled back into school life well, but I would much like to talk to you again about the events of this Christmas Holiday. Kindly come to my office right away.
Yours sincerely
Albus Dumbledore
PS I have a new box of Chocolate Frogs in my office; I know how they are your favourite.
Despite how my stomach dropped at the mention of going through what happened at Christmas again I still managed to laugh at the Post Script. It was clearly the password to Dumbledore's office but I found it funny how he had worked it into the letter, I didn't know the headmaster knew about my disastrous first experience with Chocolate Frogs, I had been sitting in the Common Room with Hermione in our first year, who at the time had had her head in a book, basically I hadn't been expecting the frogs to be alive and so when I opened the packing it (and I) had jumped about a mile, ultimately resulting in my chasing it around the Common Room. Humiliation and three years of receiving Chocolate Frogs from everyone as a joke had followed me all but destroying the Common Room in my quest to find the frog.
"You'll have to get going," Hermione said, she, like Harry, had been reading the letter over my shoulder "you don't want to be late."
"Yeah," I agreed as I folded up the letter and put it in my pocket "I'll meet you both in the Great Hall when I've finished if it doesn't take long," I told them both as we started walking.
"Okay," Harry agreed "if not I'll meet you in the Common Room with Ron later."
"Yup," I said with a look in Hermione's direction, wondering if she would be there too but deciding it unlikely. Together the three of us took to the stairs and headed up to the castle's ground floor, all of us wondering what Dumbledore was going to say and me worrying about having to explain it all again, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to take lying to him again, I'd lied to too many people and Dumbledore always had a way of unknowingly making me feel despicable when I did. The dungeons disappeared below us as we climbed, becoming a distant memory as we headed for the brighter upper levels of the castle but unfortunately, not before I heard the door to the potions classroom open and close with a loud, creaky thud as the last student exited the room.
Author note: yeah, nothing much happens here I know, its actually pretty dull but mostly this chapter was just about Ivy and the others coming back to Hogwarts and her initial reaction to everything that happened over Christmas, also her first look of Draco since then. So tell me, was it an epic fail or a half decent chapter, I love hearing from you all, a massive, massive thank you to all my amazing reviewers who I love so very much. Hope you enjoyed this. :) x